Through Ash's Wake: A Trainer's Journey In Kanto
by Jerry Martin
Summary: Set after the events in Red/Blue  but before Gold/Silver , a trainer emerges from the woodwork to start his journey through Kanto.  However, things aren't the same as when Ash started and this trainer is in for a humourous adventure!
1. Every Journey Has a Beginning

_AN: Welcome to my newest fanfic which takes place in a post-Ash Kanto. The idea sprung up after talking with a friend and through recent playthroughs. I hope you enjoy. As always, I do not own the rights to Pokemon or any of the official characters or places._

Jerry suddenly awoke in a sweat, panting heavily. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he constantly reminded himself that it was only a dream: there was no such thing as Superman 64. He stretched his arms wide, accidentally bumping the brim of his hat. Why he wore a hat to sleep he had no idea, but he knew one thing for certain: his curly black hair was sure to be a mess underneath it. Looking down, he also began to wonder why he slept in a jacket or with his shoes on either. _Must have passed out after that long Super Mario World session..._ He looked over at the TV he spent so many hours in front of last night: _Mario's still running in place. What a trooper._ He only had one last stage to go: Bowser's Castle. He decided to give it one last try. Picking up the gray controller, he started playing his heart out. Unfortunately, just before he ran through the giant red double doors, his TV went blank.

"Oh not THIS again!"

Jerry threw his controller down in frustration. His TV liked to go on the fritz and appear blank at times. The only thing to do was turn it off and wait for a while for it to cool down. _Oh well, I have errands to do anyway. _Wiping the clinging sleep from his eyes, he went to walk down the stairs but ended up falling and rolling down to the bottom. He picked himself up and brushed off his clothes, straighting them out at the same time.

"Thanks for asking Mom I'm ok."

But he didn't even get a glance from his mother, who was sitting at the table silently. He looked over to the TV and watched momentarily. _Four boys are leaving town on railroad tracks. I better go too...before Mom starts blabbing about her favorite movie again._ He went to sneak out of the door but before he could even get halfway...

"Jerry I have an errand for you to run."

"Aah! Ok. What is it now?"

"Will you take this package to Professor Oak? The Item Shop dropped it off at the wrong house again."

"Wait, I'm not supposed to get this till I get to..."

"JUST DO IT ALREADY!"

"Alright sheesh I'm goin..."

Jerry shifted his hat and grabbed the small parcel out of his mother's hand. Placing it in his jacket pocket, he opened the door and walked outside. Looking around at his surroundings, he became horribly depressed. Everything was gray: the sky, the ground, his house. The only thing that separated the different scenery was the shade of gray they were. _How ironic to be named Pallet Town and have nothing but gray everywhere. Come to think of it though, I'm not entirely sure what a pallet is... _Unfortunately, while checking his surroundings he noticed something very odd: in front of his house was a poorly constructed sign, made from splintered pieces of mismatched wood. On it were the words "Jerry's House", written crudely in dark gray ink underneath the words "Ash's House", which were scribbled out and just barely noticeable.

"Who's bright idea was this nonsense? This isn't even my house! We just rent it!"

Jerry tore down the sign and continued walking to the right, on his way to deliver the parcel to Professor Oak when he noticed that the next door neighbor had a makeshift sign just like his, only this one said "Gary's House". _Why is this person putting signs up false ownership signs? Gary and I aren't even old enough to own a house anyway!_ However, as he thought about it more, he figured it was probably a tourist trap thing. Ever since Gary and Ash's famous clash for the champion title, many new people were coming to this desolate three building town in hopes of coaxing Professor Oak into giving them a pokemon or pokedex and learning more about the two most famous pokemon trainers in Kanto.

Jerry wished he had never moved here from Celadon City but because of the discovery of Rocket's hideout and the ensuing panic, Jerry's mom felt it necessary to relocate to a safer town. Unfortunately for Jerry, they relocated to a town in the middle of nowhere that he couldn't even leave without being attacked. Of course, he got to see lots of cool pokemon that the travelers brought to fight their way in. But he wanted his own pokemon, for as long as he could remember, but especially since his dream the other night. He couldn't remember much, just Professor Oak staring at him and explaining what pokemon were. It was weird, but resparked his want to get his own and become an official pokemon trainer. Somehow, because of that dream, he felt that he was extremely close to starting a pokemon adventure.

Jerry shook his head. He had to get back to his errands. The sooner he delivered that parcel to Professor Oak, the sooner he could poke wild Pidgeys with a stick. Opening the door to Oak's lab, Jerry looked around for any sign of him, but to no avail. His lab was huge: filled with bookshelves crammed with pokemon books. Near the back was a computer with a long gray table, housing only a lone pokeball, which was covered in dust. _Perhaps I'll ask his helpers where he went. _He approached one of them, who was wearing a long lab coat and thick glasses and was strangely enough spinning around in circles.

"Excuse me, do you know where the Professor is?"

"I study pokemon as Prof. Oak's aide."

"Um...thanks. Do you know where 'Prof. Oak' is?"

"I study pokemon as Prof. Oak's aide."

"O...kay. Moving on..."

"I study..."

"I get it. Really I do. I'm...just...gonna ask this guy who looks exactly like you if he's seen him."

Jerry, now freaked out, slowly backed away from the "aide" towards what looked to be his clone, spinning around the right side of the room in circles as well. Pondering where Professor Oak hired such lunatic "aides", he was tempted to drop the package and run but he thought better of it. Having to push himself to complete his task, he slowly tapped the aide on the shoulder.

"Um...do you know where the Professor is?"

"I study pokemon as Prof. Oak's aide."

"...You know what? Forget all of this! I'm going to do my other errands! Have fun 'studying pokemon' or what everyone else calls chasing your tail!"

Jerry stormed out of the lab frustrated as the aides returned to spinning around. He looked all around the small town for Professor Oak, but was unable to find him. _How could somebody actually hide in a town with only three buildings and no real scenery? Whatever, I suppose I'll just return to my errands._ Jerry walked to the tall grass that separated Pallet Town from the rest of the world and grabbed a large stick laying near the entrance. His sight locked onto a fluttering Pidgey, he began to slowly inch towards it. But just as he took that first step into the grass...

"Hey! Wait! Don't go out!"

Jerry jumped half a foot and whipped his head around, searching for the owner of the commanding voice. He watched as a tall, older man in a white lab coat jumped out from behind a large rock, strangely unnoticeable, and ran straight at him. Jerry gave a startled yelp and ducked down, but the man stopped just in front of him. Slowly, Jerry uncovered his eyes and looked up as the man began to speak again.

"It's unsafe! You...oh..."

Jerry recognized the man as Professor Oak, the very man he was looking for. _What is he staring at my feet...oh..._ Jerry looked down and saw that in his startled jump, he had leaped right into a big pile of Ratatta poop. Disgusted, Jerry scraped his shoe onto the ground, wiping the feces off while Professor Oak shook his head.

"I was trying to warn you but..."

"Why were you hiding behind a large rock anyway? You're supposed to be studying pokemon aren't you?"

"Well, um...that's a story best told another time..."

Jerry just happened to notice at that moment that Oak's hands were covered in gray ink and splinters. Looking over at his mom's house, he saw another makeshift sign, made from the splintered wood of the old sign, which now said "Jerry the Vandal's House". Professor Oak gave a weak chuckle and darted towards his lab. Jerry, who was momentarily stunned with rage, soon realized Oak was racing away and and gave chase. The two ran all the way into Professor Oak's lab, past the spinning aides until Professor Oak backed against the back wall, trapped. He slid back onto the ground, fearful of what Jerry's future actions may be.

"Listen Oak, why would you paint signs in front of people's houses?"

"The only pokemon in this town to study are Pidgey and Rattata! It gets a tad monotonous if you catch my drift!"

"That's no excuse! Do you think I really want people knocking on the door asking for 'Jerry the Vandal'?"

"Really it was all in good fun! I...look, if you calm down and forget everything that's happened, I'll give you something good ok? I...I'll give you my last pokemon."

All the anger in Jerry's body shifted into excitement. _This is the opportunity of a lifetime!_ Jerry didn't notice it, but his mouth formed a wide grin, one which unknowingly made Professor Oak more nervous. His dream was about to come true.

"So, do I get to choose between three different pokemon? A grass, water or fire? If so I'll take..."

"Unfortunately not. Ever since Ash and Gary took my Bulbasaur and Charmander, all I've had is the one lone pokemon."

Professor Oak let out a sigh of relief, stood up and brushed off his wrinkled lab coat. Straightening up, he walked over to the lone pokeball sitting on the table, blowing off the dust and handing the ball to Jerry. Jerry sat there for what seemed an eternity, staring at the pokeball in his hands. _It's finally here: the day I leave town and start my official pokemon journey! _Jerry, in his awe, dropped the pokeball, causing it to open and, with a flash of light, spawn a small blue creature. Jerry immediately recognized it to be a Squirtle, a water pokemon that was extremely rare and could not be found in any known wilderness. He watched as the Squirtle stretched a long, tired stretch and massaged his neck. Squirtle then ran towards Oak and kicked him hard in the shin, causing Oak to buckle over with pain. Racing back to his new owner, Jerry pet him on the head and laughed.

"Squirtle, I think we're gonna be good pals. I'm gonna name you Squit."

"Squirtle! Squirtle squirtle squirt" the blue pokemon announced, nodding big and waving its arms.

"Yes, I agree completely. He did keep you in that pokeball for too long. You don't have to worry about that anymore though!"

"Squirt!"

"I don't know how I understood what you said, but let's get out of here buddy!"

Jerry picked up the fallen pokeball, closed it and pointed it at Squit, summoning him back inside. Jerry then stared at the pokeball in amazement again, like he had never seen one before. _I wonder how it does that...now for another question. How do I carry this thing around?_ But before he could think of an answer, the ball severely shurnk, to about 1/100 of it's original size. It just so happened to be big enough to fit into one of the six unused adjustment holes on his belt, which Jerry felt was ironically convenient. Professor Oak, who had just finished rubbing his sore shin and standing back upright, cleared his breath, directing Jerry's attention back to him.

"Well, I hope you'll take good care of that trouble-making Squirtle. Take care Jerry and keep me updated on your progress."

"Thank you Professor. I'll try, since we don't have any real means of communication invented yet, though for some reason we have computers and automated pokemon healing chambers..."

"Best not to think too hard about it Jerry."

"By the way, what's with your aides?"

"Well...they're the result of a failed cloning attempt. We got the appearance right, but we accidentally shut the game boy off while it was saving..."

"Uh, I'm not sure what that is but OK! I'm off then!"

"Jerry, raise your young Pokemon by making it fight!"

"...Um...isn't that kind of cruel and sadistic?"

"What is?"

"By forcing your Pokemon to fight wild creatures and other people's pokemon every day until it faints or defeats them, getting poisoned, paralyzed and otherwise physically harmed along the way, then cram it into a small, airtight ball only to bring it out for more battling? Especially since it's a 'young pokemon'?"

"Um...best not to think about it Jerry. That's just the way of the world."

"Well, good thing there's no SPCA in Kanto."

"What's SPCA?"

"...I...don't know."

_Better get a move on before things get weirder..._Jerry began to walk out of the room, amazed that he kept saying and thinking things that made no sense. _I didn't have this problem before today...this is quite strange._ But just as he reached the bookshelves, he stopped abruptly, so suddenly that the package his mom asked him to bring Oak flew out of his pocket and slid across the wooden lab floor. Jerry stood there, frozen in place, unable to move, which caught the attention of Professor Oak.

"What's the matter Jerry?" Oak asked, still worried over Jerry's mental health.

"I dunno. I just felt like I had to stop here. Kinda like there should be someone challenging me to a duel. You know, like a tutorial to learn the basics of pokemon battling?"

"Um...if you say so Jerry. Is there anything I could...you know...help you with? Like, for instance, if you're having any strange thoughts or voices running through your head?"

"Well, there are times when I feel like I have no control over myself. Kinda like some outside force is controlling my body."

"...I...well...Good luck with that anyway. I'm just gonna...return to repeating the same battling message I told you earlier ok?"

"Wait! Before you do that, I have this package for you. It was delivered to us by mistake."

Jerry raced over to the fallen package and, hoping it wasn't broken from the fall, handed it to Professor Oak, who seemed taken aback.

"Jerry, you're not supposed to get this till..."

"I know! Aren't you supposed to give me a pokedex now?"

"Sorry, fresh out."

"What? You know as well as I do that you're supposed to give me a pokedex as soon as I give you the package!"

"Do you have any idea how much it costs to make a pokedex? How am I supposed to afford giving expensive technology to brand new trainers as a pokemon researcher? I suppose I have something though..."

Professor Oak then walked back to his computer desk, leaving Jerry slightly irritated and confused. He opened a drawer and removed several items from it. He could hear him scribbling and tearing paper, his body shaking furiously, then he closed the drawer and returned to Jerry, handing the contents to him.

"A notepad with the numbers 1-150 and a pencil? What kind of pokedex is this?"

"If you don't want it..."

"Fine, I'll take it. Ash and Gary never had to take this guff..."

"Well, enough distractions. Jerry, raise your young pokemon by making it fight!"

Jerry sighed and walked out the door, leaving Oak to his spinning aides. Jerry picked the small pokeball off his belt and threw it down on the ground, causing Squit to fall out and tumble across the gruond. He picked himself up and gave Jerry a mean look.

"Uh...Squit, mean look isn't a move till next gen."

"Squirt?"

"Gah! Where are these weird thoughts coming from?"

"Squirt squitle squirtle..."

"Well Squit, the sooner we get out of this hick town the better. You want to stretch those tired legs out a bit and walk with me? I gotta tell mom goodbye."

"Squirt!"

Jerry and Squit began to walk towards "Jerry the Vandal's House", ready to abandon all they knew for a vagabond journey across the region at the drop of a hat. _I hope mom won't miss me too much._ As they were walking past Oak's lab, they were approached by a large man who was wandering the premises with an crazed look in his eyes.

"Technology is incredible! You can now store and recall items and pokemon as data via PC!"

"If technology is so incredible, why are there no telephones, roads, cars, mail service or color for that matter?"

"Uh, I have no idea what those things are but technology is incredible!"

Jerry had to stop doing that. He didn't know where these sudden outbursts were coming from or what they even meant, but he had a feeling that someone wasn't going to like it very much if he kept doing it. _Maybe I'll see if I can get an exorcism done in Lavender Town. _Jerry and Squit walked through the door to his house and approached his mom, who was still watching the TV like it was about to walk away. She hadn't even noticed the two had come in.

"Um...mom?"

"What do you want? Did you deliver that package?"

"Yes mom. Professor Oak decided to give me a pokemon. I'm gonna go explore the world and try to become the ultimate pokemon master."

"Ok, see you later."

"Uh...see you later?"

"Yeah, get goin'. One less mouth to feed...one that's interrupting my show!"

"...You don't think it's the least bit of bad parenting to let your tween son go out into the world alone with nothing but a young pokemon on a near impossible quest?"

"GET OUT BEFORE I THROW YA OUT! AND DON'T COME BACK WHEN YA FAIL NEITHER!"

"Alright, thanks for the support. Later."

Jerry stormed out of the house and slammed the door before he realized he left Squit in there. Opening it back up, he saw Squit give him a dirty look before running back up to follow him.

"Sorry about that buddy, I guess I got worked up."

Squit crossed his arms and turned his head away. _Oh well, I'm sure the journey will be a lot better than it's starting._ Grabbing out his pokedex, he decided he'd enter Squirtle as his first entry. Moving down the the number 7, he drew a crude pokeball next to it as well as a pitiful picture of Squit, then wrote "Squrtol" and for the description "blue turtol thing". Shoving it in his coat pocket, he took a deep breath and looked back at Pallet Town. _Stinkin' town...good riddance. _Then, avoiding the Rattata poo, he took his first step through the tall grass of his pokemon journey into Route 1.

_A.N.: I decided to name him Squit after my old friend Markham, who used to nickname most of his pokemon. He attempted to nickname his Squirtle 'Squirt' but missed the r and ended up naming him Squit. Laughably, he did it again when restarting his file and was one of his main battling pokemon throughout our pokemon battling history. Most of the jokes are making fun of the things in the beginning of Pokemon R/B (such as a TV with no visible screen becoming a broken blank TV in the story, the GB's lack of color becoming a gray world etc.) but the next few chapters will contain more original content. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I will see you at the next chapter._


	2. The Madness Starts

_A.N. Sorry about the delay. Like I say in my profile, I don't forget stories, I just want to make them the best possible. Hope you enjoy._

Jerry pushed away the waist-length grass, separating him from Viridian City and officially started his pokemon adventure, trudging through the thick grass and scanning the area . _Hasn't anyone heard of a lawnmower? Gah! Crazy thoughts again! _Jerry shook his head and continued walking, Squit following him closely as the grass was larger than he was. But before Jerry noticed what was going on, the entire world started flashing black and white before his very eyes.

"YAAAH! What's going on?!"

Scared and confused, Jerry closed his eyes in terror and could feel Squit grab his leg tight, climb up it and back into his Pokeball. He could feel his legs trembling in fear, his palms sweating, unsure of what was going to happen. For some odd reason, his body wanted to shift to the left, but he tried to fight it. He clenched his fists together, determined to stop whatever was grabbing him from moving him left but he couldn't hold on much longer. He released, allowing the force to move him and in the process, unwittingly opened his eyes.

It was a strange thing he looked upon. All Jerry could see was white. The world had disappeared, all except for himself, a large box and a pokemon, which was facing him and shifting left as well. It was a small, rat like creature with two overgrown front teeth and a curled up tail. _A Rattata! Now I can finally nail this guy for covering my shoes with his feces!_ But as he was thinking this, words appeared across the large box: "Wild Rattata appeared!" _Gee, thanks, like I didn't just think that. What is that thing, a giant mind reader?_ Jerry's thoughts soon shifted to Squit, who he could feel shaking in his pokeball. He picked the trembling pokeball from his belt and with a loud cry, hurled the pokeball onto the ground, causing Squit to emerge from his safe place.

"Go Squit!"

No sooner than he said that did the words appear on the giant mind-reading scoreboard. _Uh...I don't need you to repeat everything I say..._ He watched Squit as he raced back towards Jerry's leg in a fast attempt to return to his pokeball, but soon noticed that Jerry wasn't trembling anymore and turned back to see why he was summoned. Looking at his foe, Squit immediately realized what was going on and assumed a battle stance with a smile. Out from seemingly nowhere, signs appeared over Squit and Rattata's heads, showing their name, a health bar and a numerical level. _That's it...I must be going insane. Either that or I've died and I'm forced to battle my way through dead pokemon..._

Jerry's eyes shifted back to the scoreboard, which was displaying several options: Fight, Item, Pkmn and Run. Jerry stood there momentarily, dazed and confused with no idea where he was or how these items were defying the laws of physics. As he read the scoreboard, he started to wonder if it was awaiting a command. _Well, I might as well try...it's not like I've got anything to lose sitting here in this empty world..._

"Fight!"

The menu shifted to a list of moves: Tackle and Tail Whip. Jerry became even more confused and stared at Squit, who was still standing in a battle pose, unchanged for the last few minutes. He was kind of worried, as Squit hadn't even taken a breath or shifted since he started the battle. Plus, other things were worrying him.

"Squit I never knew you had a tail! But how is that supposed to help anything?"

Squit shook his head as if questioning Jerry's intelligence. _All I can see from here is a head and a shell...well, I better just take Oak's advice and not worry about things. Wherever I am, it's too crazy to over analyze things!_

"Tackle!"

Squit quickly lunged forward, moving only slightly. Though he missed completely, a bone breaking snap echoed through the air and Jerry could see Rattata's healh meter drop about ¼ of the way down. Rattata immediately followed suit and tackled thin air, but just as Squit had done before, missed completely and somehow made full contact, taking 3 HP away from Squit's health bar. The scoreboard returned to it's four option screen again. _I'm not gonna waste time trying to whip that rat with Squit's non-existing tail. Let's go with an all out offense!_

"Squit Tackle!"

Squit lunged at the invisible air in front of him once more when Jerry noticed the scoreboard had changed once again: "Critical Hit!". Rattata's health bar slowly drained down halfway until barely ¼ of his total health remained. Rattata countered with Tail Whip, which Jerry noticed wasn't even a tail whip but rather a left to right dance that Rattata somehow managed to do without moving it's feet or body. Wondering what possible good this could have done, Jerry checked to scoreboard only to find Squit's defense had fallen.

"Buddy, how does dancing lower your defense? If so I'm never taking you to a disc...Oh I see."

Jerry looked at Squit, who was now laughing at the Rattata's pitiful attack. Jerry chuckled a bit himself as he began to understand. _Well, I'm not going to give this thing a chance to hit Squit while he's poking fun at other people._

"Squit finish him with Tackle!"

Squit shifted towards the rat again and this time, drained his health completely. Jerry watched as Rattata fell sharply through the floor and disappeared. _How in the world..._ Jerry's eyes fell upon the giant scoreboard, however, which was displaying that the Rattata fainted. _Never would have guessed...do you do ANYTHING useful?_ But as he was asking this, the scoreboard shifted and showed that Squit had gained 24 experience points. Jerry walked over to high five Squit, but just as we was doing so, the world shifted into a bright white light, making him and his few surroundings disappear. Jerry leaped onto Squit, clinging onto him for dear life as the world disappeared once more around him. But just as he began to lose hope of things ever returning to normal...

He appeared back on Route 1, right where he had disappeared. Jerry clung to Squit for several moments, taking in what had just happened. Squit, however, became frustrated and shoved Jerry off of him, making him fall onto the dirt. After regaining his composure, Jerry stood up and brushed himself off.

"Wow buddy that was strange! But hey, not too shabby for our first battle together eh?"

Squit shook his head in disapproval, as if trying to say that Jerry did none of the work. Jerry ignored him. He was just happy to be back in the real world. He quickly remembered to add Rattata to his Pokedex. Grabbing the small notepad from his back pocket and the pencil out of his jacket, he moved down to the number 19 and drew a picture of a mouse. He then wrote "Rata Tata Tata". He then checked his surroundings to regain his direction and caught a glimpse of Squit standing around with its arms crossed.

"Oh there's your tail! It's that...big...thing hanging out of your back...whoops!"

Squit rolled his eyes and continued trekking through the tall grass of Route 1 without Jerry. Jerry gave quick chase after him.

"Wait up buddy! We've got to do this together!"

Jerry followed Squit through the end of the tall grass and up a hill when he noticed a kid wandering around. Curious as to what he could be doing, he approached him but before he could ask, the boy started talking to him.

"Hi! I work at a Pokemon Mart."

"Um, aren't you a little young to work at a Pokemon Mart? Doesn't Kanto have child labor laws? ...Gah!" Jerry asked, becoming frusterated with himself. However, the boy ignored him completely.

"It's a convenient shop, so please visit us in Viridian City."

"If you're supposed to be working in Viridian, why are you wandering around Route 1?" Jerry inquired, but was again ignored.

"I know, I'll give you a sample! Here you go! Jerry got POTION!"

A weird sound effect rang through the air as the kid announced that he had received a gift. Jerry quickly became weirded out again and contemplated running, however, Squit could tell what he was thinking and gave him a inquiring look, as if to say it wasn't any stranger than what had been happening recently. Jerry wondered if the Potion was poisoned in any way, but stuck it in his pocket regardless.

"Well, I'm not sure why you had to shout that I got a potion or how you suddenly know my name but I think I'm gonna go now..."

"We also carry POKE BALLs for catching Pokemon!"

"...Yeah, I'm not so...sure about buying things from you...so...um...bye."

Jerry backed away slowly, grabbing Squit's hand and running full throttle through the grass. However, in his negligence he ran full throttle into something. Before he could find out what, however, the world started flashing again. This time, Jerry was ready. As he shifted left again, he saw a Pidgey shift into view. Jerry sent out Squit and their newest battle began again.

"Squit Tackle!"

Squit lunged at the Pidgey, taking out a good quarter of it's health. Jerry began to anticipate the Pidgey's next move. What would it be? Jerry stared at the Pidgey and without any sort of warning, a mini tornado appeared and hit Squit square in the face. The giant scoreboard showed that it had been a critical hit, though it only took out three hit points. Jerry wasn't surprised about that though. If it had caught him off guard, no surprise that Squit had gotten hit by it worse than normal.

"How did that happen?! Pidgey didn't even move! At least it's pretty weak..."

Squit looked completely surprised as well. It didn't look as if he was hurt, but merely that it had caught him off guard. _I didn't know Pidgey was a Psychic type! Oh well, let's get this over with._

"Tackle!"

Squit lunged at the Pidgey once more, but this time the miss was an actual miss. _How in the world did that miss? Granted, he's never actually hit a Pokemon but still. _Again, with no warning, a small twister ravaged in front of Squit and hit him full on. The battle continued to rage on, each pokemon using their respective attack move until finally, Squit remained the victor, though at a price: his health was becoming dangerously low.

"Good job on gaining a level Squit! ...Though I'm not sure what a level is. Are you now a two story pokemon?"

Squit slapped his forehead in frustration through his pants and groans. Squit was obviously in a lot of pain. _I better get him to town and see if anyone can help him! _The area shifted back to Route 1. Jerry summoned Squirtle back to his Pokeball and started to run towards Viridian, but again managed to run into a Pidgey. As the world shifted once more, he remembered his options and shouted Run, running through the white expanse with his arms flailing above his head. Next thing he knew, he was back on Route 1 next to a trainer that looked exactly like the Viridian Worker. _Did...Oak clone everyone here too?_ He didn't have time to think.

"Help! My Squit is hurt! Where can I heal him?"

"See those ledges on the road? It's a bit scary but you can jump from them. You can get back to PALLET TOWN that way."

"Forget you and your ominpresent knowledge of where I came from!"

Jerry ran further forward, dodging wild pokemon left and right and didn't stop running until he ran head first into a sign. Rubbing his sore head, he read the sign slowly.

"TRAINER TIPS: The battle moves of a pokemon are limited by their Power Points or PP. To replenish PP rest your tired Pokemon at a Pokemon Center!"

"Amazing! Just what I was looking for!"

Luckily, just in front of him was the Pokemon Center in question. He rushed up the ledge and through the door into the Pokemon Center, which was just as gray as the rest of the world. The place had several fake plants scattered around and even though there was only one door in and out of the center, there were magically two exits. Another thing that bothered him was that the building was nearly square, yet the inside was obviously rectangular, even though he couldn't see the rest of the center for some strange reason. He slowly walked up to the counter, worried about his sanity when a little boy sitting on a couch spoke up.

"POKEMON CENTERs heal your tired, hurt or fainted Pokemon!" the boy recited.

"Um...thanks but I already knew that. That's why I'm here."

Before he could talk to the attendant behind the desk and hopefully get Squit some medical treatement, another young boy standing next to him piped up with his own comments.

"There's a POKEMON CENTER in every town ahead. They don't charge any money either!"

"I guess that's good but I don't really care right now. I need to heal my Squit."

Jerry then turned to talk to the girl behind the counter, who was standing beside a giant machine with a flat, black surface. Jerry began to worry whether or not this was a good idea, but it was too late now.

"Welcome to our POKEMON CENTER! We heal your POKEMON back to perfect health! Shall we heal your pokemon?"

Jerry was astounded. _Is she really that dense? Why else would I be in here?_ But what worried him wasn't that, but the fact that a large window, similar to the battle scoreboard popped up with two options: HEAL and CANCEL. _Um...are the attendants deaf or do Pokemon Centers have excess money to burn?_

"Heal!"

"OK, We'll need your POKEMON."

Before Jerry could even turn to hand her his Pokemon, the pokeball containing Squit magically teleported from his belt to the machine. Flabbergasted, Jerry scratched his head in wonder and watched as the machine played a short music piece and lit up Squit's pokeball. _Um...I didn't know you could heal a Pokemon by turning them into a disco ball...maybe next time I'll just play a song and make Squit dance! _The attendant turned back to Jerry and the ball magically teleported to his belt again. _Why is it that I never noticed the oddities of the world before today?_

"Thank you! Your POKEMON are fighting fit!" the attendant said, bowing slightly.

"Um...thanks? I was more worried about him getting healed, not making him work out!"

"We hope to see you again!"

"That's kind of wrong! I only plan to see you when my Pokemon need healing! Are you saying that you hope my Pokemon get hurt so you can see me again? Are you that bitter that you're not getting paid and are obviously stuck behind your desk with no way out?"

Jerry got no response, but he was starting to get used to that. He tossed down his pokeball, releasing Squit and causing him to fall flat on his face. Jerry had to remind himself not to laugh, but Squit still eyed him warily. They walked out of the Pokemon Center and looked around at Viridian City. It wasn't much of a city, truthfully, with only a few buildings, a Pokemon Center and an Item Shop. _Hey, compared to Pallet Town, this is a metropolis though!_ He saw a sign in the distance and read it aloud.

"VIRIDIAN CITY The Eternally Green Paradise."

Jerry looked around at the scenery again and saw only varying shades of gray. _I wonder if I could sue Viridian City for false advertisement..._ Thinking back to his earlier conversation with the underage worker, he remembered something about being able to buy pokeballs at the Item Shop and decided it would be best to stop there next. _Can't be a good trainer with only one Pokemon after all!_ As he walked towards the Item Shop, another young boy who looked exactly like the worker approached him. _Either someone had identical triplets or Oak's been up to no good!_

"You want to know about the 2 kinds of caterpillar POKEMON?" he rambled off.

"Um...no, I don't. They sound kind of weak."

"CATERPIE has no poison, but WEEDLE does. Watch out for its POISON STING!"

"I said no!'

"CATERPIE has..."

"SHUT UP!"

Jerry walked away fuming and entered the item shop, Squit following closely behind. Before he could even stop to check out the shop, he was beckoned by the shopkeep.

"Hey! You came from PALLET TOWN?"

"How does everyone know?!"

"Well, you got this newbie, backwater kind of look going on."

"...Thanks."

"You know PROF. OAK, right?"

"Oh no. You're not one of his aides are you? They're the only ones I've heard refer to him as 'PROF. OAK'."

"No, I have glasses, see? His order came in. Will you take it to him?"

"You mean the one I delivered to him earlier? The one you sent to our house? How is it that you can't deliver it to the right house when two of the three houses are tied to him?"

"...Does he live at 1 or 2 Pallet Town?"

"...C'mon, he has a giant lab bigger than both the houses combined!"

"OK, OK. Say hi to for me!"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you're going to deliver that package, right?"

"I already did!"

"But you're not supposed to get it till..."

"I know, I know! Tell me about it."

"OK fine. I guess I can let you shop here..."

"Why would you make me deliver a package to shop here? If you want business, that's a poor way of getting it."

"Because you have to do it to progress the game."

Jerry shook his head. _I'm not sure what that means, but I better buy some pokeballs and get out before he makes me go hand out potions in the middle of a field..._ Jerry quickly purchased 10 pokeballs and left the shop. _Guess there's nothing more to do but challenge the gym here!_ But as Jerry walked up towards the gym, he saw a man lying in the middle of the road with a young girl next to him. As he tried to creep past him, the man yelled, startling Jerry.

"You can't go through here! This is private property!"

"The path to the gym is private property? I'm just trying to get my first badge!"

"Oh Grandpa! Don't be so mean! He hasn't had his coffee yet" the girl explained, badgering her grandpa.

Jerry unwittingly moved backwards and returned towards the Pokecenter. _What a jerk! I just want to challenge the gym leader...why do old people have to be so mean without their coffee? Guess I'll have to explore the other route..._ Squit kicked the old man as the two walked off and he started screaming again about youngsters and hooligans, causing Jerry to laugh and high five Squit. The two took the path west of town and were surprised to see a large building surrounded by grass. As Jerry and Squit approached it, the world started flashing again and out of nowhere, a Rattata appeared. _Guess I'll try my hand at catching a Pokemon now! _Squit and the Rattata battled until the Rattata's health bar was low before flinging a pokeball at it. After a few weak shakes, Jerry had his second Pokemon, whom he named with love: "Pooptata". When the world returned, he pulled out his Pokedex and scribbled next to Rata Tata Tata's entry: "annoying pooping mouse". He then stuffed the second pokeball in the second notch of his belt and entered the large building with Squit in tow.

Inside, Jerry saw a marvelous gray rug, leading to two gray doors with two gray statues on either side. _Ugh...I can't wait till next gen introduces color...augh! Get out of my head!_ A security guard stood next to the door and as soon as Jerry entered, he approached him.

"Only truly skilled trainers are allowed through. You don't have the BOULDERBADGE yet!" the guard shouted.

"How in the world do you know that?!"

"The rules are the rules. I can't let you pass."

The guard then shoved Jerry and Squit out of the building back onto Route 22. _Man, what is it with all these rude people? Where am I supposed to go now? _But as he turned around, he was surprised to see someone else. Someone that didn't look like the average citizen. Jerry gulped as Squit prepared himself for battle.


End file.
